The Mother of all Bellyrails

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Greg Newell" <gnewell@ameritech.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: February 09, 2003 12:25 PM
Subject: Re: The Mother of all Bellyrails


> Del,
>
>          How did you receive this piano? Was it strung and playable? What
> did it sound like? I'm curious to know how much effect the free floating
> soundboard had in power or sustain. What , if any, other effects could
have
> been produced by this treatment? Did the soundboard have a liner of it's
> own? If so, other than helping to prevent the board from splitting would
> there be any other reason for the board having a liner? Would such a liner
> serve to choke off the effect of a free floating board? Was there a fair
> amount of deformation of the board due to lack of inner rim/ liner
support?
> What was the crown like? Was there any downbearing before de-construction?
> Thanks so much for sharing all the details about this unusual gem.
> Greg Newell
> mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net
>


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It was strung, not playable. I don't know how the piano sounded overall.
Plucking the strings indicated fair to poor sustain in the upper tenor and
treble sections. Good to excellent in the tenor and bass.

Yes, the soundboard has a liner as described in an earlier post.

I would guess it was intended to provide mechanical support for the board.
Couldn't have done much more than that. I don't know if it 'choked' the
effect of the free-floating board or not. I've never built a piano with a
fully free-floating soundboard to use as a comparison. Uncharted territory.

There was no deformation in the soundboard at all, save for some residual
crown. Crown was minimal, but there was some. I didn't spend a whole lot of
time trying to measure it. I will look more closely at the ribs tomorrow.

Del